Rodrigo Rubio's Endesa Pavilion is a smart solar structure

The building’s wooden components were prefabricated in a factory to reduce waste. On-site, they were then assembled from the coded pieces

Adria Goula

This article was taken from the January 2013
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"Our philosophy was, if you want to be self-sufficient,
start by consuming less"

Rodrigo Rubio

"Architecture is a slow technology," says Rodrigo Rubio,
architect at Barcelona's Institute for
Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. "Maybe we have to rethink
how we understand architecture -- as a static field or a dynamic
one." Rubio's Endesa Pavilion, a building shaped to maximise its
exposure to the Sun, is, he says, a statement of how energy
efficiency should guide the form of a building, rather
than just adding solar panels to a finished design.

Every aspect of the pavilion design is shaped for its location
on Barcelona's Olympic harbour. "Each module is adapted to its
specific position in relation to the Sun's path," explains Rubio,
34. The angular modules reduce the Sun's full glare to the
building's interior in summer, but let in light during winter. At
the same time, the solar panels are exposed as directly to the Sun
as possible throughout the day and over the year. Designating the
modules' positions involved feeding radiation, temperature and
energy data into a software model -- each panel is positioned at
the sweet spot that maximises solar-panel surface area and exposure.

Endesa Pavilion

Shown is the south side, which is open, but shaded. The north side is more closed to reduce heat loss

Adria Goula

"We're balancing the production of energy with low consumption,"
says Rubio. "Our philosophy was, if you want to be self-sufficient,
start by consuming less. Introduce the passive concepts, then the
active ones." The pavilion is a proof-of-concept showroom that will
remain on site for the next year as part of the Smart City Expo,
and is intended to produce up to 150 per cent of its energy
needs (using 20kWh per day, but generating 120kWh), selling
the surplus back to the grid.

Rubio favours open-sourcing the software to allow anyone to
build their own house, which can be customised for their location's
climate. With design, fabrication and construction costs kept low,
and a surplus of solar energy being produced, owners of these
buildings may find they pay for themselves. Meanwhile, Rubio is
thinking of taking his form-follows-energy concept further, "to
make it more high-tech and more reactive to the environment," he
suggests. "Instead of static models optimised for position, we'll
make a dynamic façade that reacts to the position of the Sun in
real time."